cuffed  Part Deux  By TLR555
by tlr555
Summary: Things had been getting worse between Kate and Rick for the last two weeks now. She could feel him pulling away. Kate braves a hurricaine to have it out and save the dream of a life with this most charming man.


Cuffed – Part Deux

By: TLR

Castle Fan Fiction

PG 13 rated

4/5/12

This story is a sequel to the Limey episode. A week has passed, the stewardess has gone back to the friendly skies, and Castle is still making life fairly chilly for Kate. Even though she went out for drinks with Colen, she couldn't bring herself to sleep with the incredibly hunky Limey even though she figured Castle had partaken of Miss US Air several times during her lay over. Enjoy.

I own nothing. This fan fiction is not an attempt at infringement rights of Castle, ABC, etc. It is merely for the purpose of entertaining those loyal fans that love the show as I do.

It was a horrible storm, the streets were deserted. The winds gusted making any trees in the city bend like limp celery. The rain penetrated her slicker as Kate was let into Castle's building by an equally drenched doorman.

"Not a fit night out there for man nor beast tonight, `a detective." Joe, the friendly doorman had become very familiar with the young woman, seeing her coming over for poker parties, barbeques, and generally to spend some quiet time with his favorite author tenant.

"What brings you out in this…. Is there another murder case you and Mr. Castle are going to?" Joe loved to hear the dirt on many of the cases she and the writer were working on. Truth was, Joe would have gladly taken that as his tip for good service, however, Richard was always one to appreciate the building staff with currency.

"Nope, just checking to see if things are okay." Kate returned. "I'm surprised you are still here. Aren't you supposed to be off your shift by now?" the woman knew the man was several hours past his normal work time.

"Yeah, well Derrick called out due to the storm, so I said I would stay over a while." The doorman removed his hat and smoothed back his grey white locks before replacing it. "But I am about to head home now and make sure my house is still there." He chuckled and noted the big smile it got from the detective. "You take care now, and be careful if you plan to go back out there….. There's a mean storm a brewing." Joe tipped his hat to the lady and left out the door into the squall.

Catherine looked at him knowingly, giving him a nod and smile. She wondered just how much this man could read into that statement. Kate had come here to have it out with Castle regarding his behavior of late. She was here to set the record straight and knew that the storm outside had nothing on the possible one that would be taking place in his apartment if she read her Castles right. She made her way to the elevator and hit the button for the top level.

Coming down the hall, Kate watched as the lighted sconces that lined the corridor flickered. Joe was right. This storm was a dozy. The detective wondered silently if Castle kicked her out of his loft, would she have to sleep in the corridor rather than try to brave the elements to get home. Kate hadn't taken her unit, not even her motorcycle, but used the subway to get to his place. 'Would they even be still running if the power went out all over the city?' That thought helped to take her mind off the confrontation to come.

She got to Castle's door and checked the state of her coverings. Her coat was drenched and she removed it to lie over her arm. The light brown cashmere sweater Castle had given her for Christmas last year highlighted the faded denim skinny jeans Kate was always so fond of wearing. Truth be told, she wore this outfit because she knew it always pleased him to see her use the gifts he gave her. Secretly, she liked it when Castle would eye her form in this item and hoped it would lend some ease to the conversation they were about to have. She checked the V neck of the sweater and found a few stray drops of rain that had made their way past the coat and onto her skin. Kate brushed at them and pulled down on the garment to make the neck line fall in the proper place. Her cleavage now nicely framed, the young detective pressed the button and Castle's buzzer sounded.

It was a long moment before the door opened and Kate secretly worried that perhaps Castle wasn't alone in there. She figured that since Alexis was out of town with Martha, this would be a good time to talk with him, but then rethought it assuming that he'd found another large chested 20 year old to take the stewardess' place. When the door opened she found Castle on his cell trying to speak with his daughter through what was apparently a very bad connection. He waved her in without thinking, and turned to find a different spot in the loft that offered better reception.

"Yes, honey, I am sure I am alright here." Castle yelled through what must have been the worst connection ever. Kate came in and shut the door behind her. She watched Rick walk closer to the couch, then past that to the window.

"Alexis, you don't have to worry about me, I have plenty of food in the pantry and am not planning on going anywhere until this storm passes." His fatherly reassurances gave Kate the impression the young girl on the other end was petrified for this man's safety.

"Yes, I know they are calling it a hurricane but I assure you it is nothing but a bad storm. Really you have nothing to worry about. I am as safe as a babe in arms here." Castle glanced back once he found a good spot for the connection and saw Kate sheepishly grinning at his last statement.

"Honey, don't worry about me. You look after Grams and I promise you I won't budge from the apartment until this thing lets up." Castle was watching as his work partner just stood there staring at him. "You get some rest and have a good time in Miami for me." His voiced softened and a smile crossed his lips. "Love ya honey," He lilted into the phone much the way Kate had wanted him to say that to her. In her dreams, the young detective had more recently been picturing the life she would share with this man. Through her work in therapy, she began to allow herself to believe in this dream and work towards it.

Kate had been making some progress, consistently asking Castle out for drinks at the old haunt, burgers at Remmies, and even an occasional flick at the Angelica, all times she felt were great trials of what a life with him would be like. She loved those times, as Kate felt herself releasing the need to keep him at arm's length. Until the bombing, Kate was slowly but surely making herself more and more comfortable with the idea of Castle as more than just a friend. The one hurdle left was how to go from work partners to partners in the bedroom without it feeling awkward and uneasy. Catherine was sure that if something would spark between them, the rest would probably fall into place. She remembered the time they were handcuffed and he got behind her to help push the freezer. Though she told him not to enjoy it, she was enjoying the feel of his pelvis snuggling up to hers. The cheshire grin she made when they worked together that day was private and unbeknownst to Castle. She watched as this man she had fantasized about finished his call.

"Mother, just make sure she doesn't worry about me. I swear to you I am not leaving the apartment. There is no need for you two to cut your trip short." Castle turned his back to Kate again and she studied the round firmness of his butt in some tight jeans of his own. The young detective imagined getting her hands on that round firmness, and it sent a heat wave down her spine and into her private areas.

"Besides there aren't any flights into New York anyway, just stay put… I will sleep better knowing you two are safe down there." Castle's voice went from reassuring to forceful. Kate could tell that his mother finally relented, as Rick completed the call with a "Love ya too Mom, Nite."

Hanging up the phone, Rick turned his attention to the white elephant in the room so to speak. Kate Beckett now felt like she was a fish out of water by the strange stare she was getting from the silent man dressed in jeans, a tee shirt and bare feet.

"Detective Beckett, what brings you here on a night like this? Was there a murder in the city?" Richard's tone was as it had been over the last two weeks, cool and distant. Kate felt a lump grow in the back of her throat.

"No… I just wanted to check on you and make sure you were alright, this storm and all." That reason sounded as phony to her as it did to him and Castle wasn't buying it.

"You could have called for that, no need for you to come out in this weather." Richard went to the window not wanting to look at her. This added to his distance and Castle knew that that was what he needed right now, distance. If he was ever going to move on with his life, he was not going to let himself keep falling into her looks and glances as he had for these last 4 years.

"Is your unit down in the street?" He asked opening the curtains and looking down to the no parking zone she usually was able to park in being NYPD. It was empty and he knew this wasn't going to be a professional call.

"No… I used the subway." Kate admitted lowly feeling just how difficult he was making this.

"The subway….. You do know they are closing down the subway at 8P, possible flooding and all." Castle looked at his watch. It was now 8:12PM. He turned his watch to her and made a sarcastic look in her direction.

"I know….. I know, but I thought with Alexis and Martha out of town, if I couldn't get home I could just stay here." Kate couldn't believe the words as they came from her mouth. She was inviting herself to stay over in the apartment of a man who seemed to not know she was even alive anymore. She tried to counter, and deflect his obvious bewildered return. "It's not the first time I have stayed here."

Richard was not having any of that. Being around her all day was hard enough, now she wants to spend the night. He was not going to let that happen. Castle went to the closet and retrieved his coat and shoes. Slipping the soft loafers on his bare feet, he put the coat over his arm and began. "Come on, I will give you a ride home." The blue eyed male didn't look directly into her face, but rather looked at the floor as he came toward her. He reached out for her arm and found that she pulled it away in defiance.

"You promised Martha and Alexis you were not going out in this." Kate moved to the side near the stairs and watched as he had to come back toward her to try and get her to leave.

"Yeah, well what they don't know cannot hurt them. Besides I have a hummer downstairs in the garage. I feel fairly confident that will get me to your place and back safely. It is after all what the military and police use in bad weather scenarios." Castle clamped onto her arm and began to lead her toward the door. Kate followed him reluctantly, leaning back her weight to make her gait choppy and resistant.

"Castle, I came here to talk with you about something important." She announced, leaning so much of her weight backward, it stopped Richard's forward movement. He looked back at and saw her staring at the death grip he had on her arm.

"Well we can talk in the car….. I want to get you home before the storm gets much worse." The author really didn't care about the storm. He just didn't want her to have any time to get into his heart again. Since the lie, and the subsequent awkwardness between the partners, Richard had been finding her saddened looks hardest of all to ignore. He knew she never really loved him, but felt he was abandoning her with so much of her emotional baggage still attached. The guilt from this was unbearable at times.

"I am not leaving this loft until we have this out Castle." Kate removed her extremity from his grasp and locked her arms beneath her folded coat.

"Kate, what is so important that it can't wait until work tomorrow or the next day?" Rick knew but he didn't want to let on that he knew. The feelings of foolishness over his mistaking her actions for actual caring still burned red in the author's face when he remembered them.

"We need to talk about our partnership…. It's getting out of control and I don't want it to get any worse." Kate saw him coming toward her to grab her arm again. As Richard did so, Kate took her cuffs from the pocket of her jeans and slapped one of the metal circles around the author's wrist as it came toward hers. The shock of her action afforded Beckett time to place the other circle of the cuffs on her own wrist. Now locked together his right wrist to her left, Rick and Kate were linked for as much time as the cop wanted them to be.

Rick stared down at the cuffs and how the two of them were once more hitched, as he absently referred to it before. "Very funny…. Very funny… undo these right now." Castle was in no mood to play, especially not with this woman. Normally, the author would have fantasized about something like this especially with the detective, but now things were not a game.

"Nope." Kate returned standing there hands on hips. "We need to talk first." The detective was stiffening her resolve knowing this man was not at all in a laughing mood. Before the bombing, Castle would have found this act of Catherine's to be sexy, even kinky, but now he was simply annoyed by it.

"Kate this is illegal detention, you can get into a lot of trouble for this. Come on now, get the key from your pocket and let me out of these things." The author was trying to keep his tone even and unemotional however, his need to keep his distance from the woman was making him more angered than he wanted to show.

Kate pulled the key from her pocket and waved it just outside Castle's reach. "You want out, then you gotta talk to me first." She showed him she meant business.

"Come on Kate…" Castle swiped at the object but the cop kept it just outside his grasp. Richard stepped into her body to try and get his hands on the key. He was able to make contact, but instead of grabbing the key, his hand knocked it out of hers, as it went flying across the room onto the floor.

"What'd you have to go and do that for?" Beckett was pissed at his stubbornness. She looked over her shoulder to see where it landed. Castle was equally interested as to where it went too. He looked over the smaller woman trying to spy the metallic color of the key against the cream coloring of the carpet.

"I think it went over there." The author started in the direction of the key's flight, but was stopped by his cuffed hand being pulled back aggressively.

"Castle I meant what I said, I am not leaving your loft until we talk this thing through." Beckett was leaning her whole body weight against the pull of her partner's well muscled frame.

"Well get these blasted things off of me and I will give you time to have your say." The writer didn't mention her say was still going to be while he was ignoring her in the front seat of his hummer on the way across town. Becket relented, and allowed him to begin in the direction of the key. Suddenly the lights flickered violently, there was a crash of thunder that actually shook the building's foundation and the room went completely black. The loss of the outdoor street lighting and the heavy cloud cover afforded neither of the loft's occupants any light at all.

"What the?" Kate was quick to respond as she stopped her forward motion and received a light jerk on her wrist from Castle's movement. Castle halted feeling the metal grind into his wrist and began to use his free hand to rub the offensive stinging away.

"Just give it a minute. The emergency generator will kick in. There is emergency lighting throughout the loft that will come on after about 2 minutes of generator back up. Just be still." Rick tried to reassure both of them, but had truthfully never had to experience any severe level of storm in this building during his last 7 years of living here. Prior to this time, he had lived in an estate in the Hamptons that was now occupied by Gina through the divorce.

When the emergency backup lighting didn't come on, Castle was beginning to worry. He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and tried to get a signal. "Damn…..no signal…How about you?" He continued to wave the device around him to get what he needed, but to no avail.

Beckett pulled her own phone out and found it was dead too. "The cell towers are probably being disrupted by the storm." Another loud clap of thunder caused them to both flinch seeing the large flash of lightning that proceeded it.

"Damn I have never seen a storm this bad in the city." Kate's worry for their safety was starting to show. It didn't help that both of them had metal on their wrists at that very moment either. Remembering this, the duo decided to work together to try and find the key. The young detective didn't fear being put out in the storm anymore seeing just how truly bad it was getting. As the two tried to make their way to the couch, the small space between the couch and coffee table was misjudged by both of them. This sent the two falling down, Kate on top of Castle onto the couch. They hit with a thud, the writer's strong arms coming up instinctively to protect the woman from falling off and cracking her head against the sharp edge of the glass coffee table.

"For a moment, the two were frozen in each other's arms. Even in the dark, Kate's features were clearly longing. Castle, as well couldn't help the reflexive caring this closeness brought. But like the harshness of the lighting and thunder, with another clap of equal magnitude, this broke their concentration and sent both back toward their real goal, finding the key and getting out of the cuffs.

Kate put her hand on what she thought was his waist to push herself up and off him, but she was a bit lower than she intended. Her hand went right to Castle's manhood as it lay up and to the right of center in his tight jeans. The defined shape and size was unmistakable and Kate was both intrigued and horrified by her slip. 'So that is why he is so happy all the time' she thought removing her hand immediately and uttering a muted "Oh sorry."

'I'll bet she was sorry.' Ricks thoughts were equally heady and frustrated. 'It's the only part of me she hasn't manipulated over the past 4 years.' He kept his comments to himself trying to forget the feeling of her touch upon his package.

Kate rolled off Rick's muscular form and onto the soft carpeted rug on the floor. Castle joined her there within a few moments. They both inched their way single file past the coffee table and began running their hands over the fluffy fibers of the creamy soft tapestry. Kate's face was flushed and at this moment she really was glad the emergency lighting was not working. She couldn't get the feel of his manhood out of her mind and Kate reasoned that that was probably the type of spark she felt they needed to go from work partners to life partners, literally. Her hand made wide sweeps as did Castle's, but with several attempts coming up empty, eventually the young detective turned backward and sat down on the rug leaning up against the couch. Rick saw her giving up and started to question her.

"What are you doing… We are supposed to looking for the key." He asked still on hands and knees beside her.

"I have been looking for the key to your anger and distance for the last week now Rick, and I still can't find it." Kate returned, feeling her need to talk about what they were going through was more than getting out of these handcuffs.

"Hello handcuffs….. Storm…. Lightning!" Castle waved his cuffed extremity in the air.

"The building is insulted and we are far enough from the windows. I doubt we are at risk, but if we do get hit by lighting, I will be very generous and let you say I told you so all you want." Her tone was defeated and the hurt Rick heard told him without benefit of lighting that her face was now reflecting the misery she must be going through. He sat back against the couch beside her and decided to give her some time to rest. There was a long silence between them in the dark blackness. Finally Kate opened.

"Rick… I don't know what happened to make you be so upset with me….. I thought we were getting along rather well these last 10 months…. Even moving closer….." You could hear a hint of tears in her voice and Castle was glad he couldn't see them right now. "Was I just imagining it… I couldn't have been imagining it." Catherine was unwilling to believe that this man didn't feel for her what he admitted to in that graveyard last summer.

"We have always worked well together Kate…" Castle didn't want to get into this. He knew she was talking about their working partnership and not the relationship that he thought was growing between them.

"No, it's more than that… We have shared many life and death situations, that makes us much more than partners…" Kate's voice was trembling. "Something has changed Rick, just over the last week or two. Something that is putting everything we had in jeopardy and I am not willing to let it go." He could feel her linked hand coming up to brush back the tears she was obviously now shedding.

"Kate." Part of Castle wanted to hug her while the other part still wanted to ring her neck for lying to him the way she did. He understood the lie was meant to save his feelings, but it worked in reverse making him hard and bitter to the idea of every finding true love again. That was partly the reason for the return of old habits he'd been demonstrating, the bimbo's, the impromptu trips.

"No Castle…" she felt him cringe at the use of his partner name and thought better of it. "Richard….. since I met you my life has taken on a new and wonderful quality." Kate started and could only judge by the silence that the author was listening to her.

"I was so walled off….. I didn't want to every care about anyone, not even my unit staff."Kate was amazed at how much introspection both Castle and the shrink's sessions had given her as to her previous behavior.

"Javi, Ryan… they were friends and co workers but because at any minute I could lose one of them, I just didn't let myself get attached emotionally." Catherine considered her words and continued. "I pushed them away much like I did you and anyone else in my life… You had it right when you said that I got into relationships with men I didn't love to avoid letting anyone get close to me." Kate exhaled heavily before admitting the next part.

"Until you…. You wouldn't take that and as hard as I tried to keep you at arm's length you saw past my barriers, and pushed your way right in. You've made me a better team player because I see my unit as my friends and companions, not just another badge." Catherine let her cuffed hand come over and cover his beside hers.

"You made that difference in my life and it has helped me immensely with what I have been going through since my mother's death. You gave me the chance to at least take down her killer, so that no jury in the world would allow him to walk. You can't believe how freeing that was, even if I didn't get who hired him to do it." The young detective sniffled and moved her free hand to wipe back the tears.

"I took great solace in the warmth of your presence in my life and with that support I have made so much progress toward that happy life I so desperately want. I can't imagine a life without you in it at some level…. I feel that the happiness I have been trying to reach is now flying away from me and I don't know how to stop it." Kate put her hand up and tried to hide the fact that she was crying more steadily at that confession.

"It's okay…" Castle's voice sounded more reassuring than he wanted it too, but deep inside he couldn't resist playing caregiver to this beautiful woman.

"No it's not Rick." Kate returned with a hiccup and sniffle. "You're leaving me and I don't know why….. What have I done… What can I do to make you reconsider this move?" Castle could feel her eyes upon him in the darkness… He thought a moment and ventured that she had the right to at least know why.

"You shouldn't have lied to me." His return was low and held a lot of the hurt feelings she was showing now.

'Lie' Kate's mind went panic stricken. She realized that this behavior seemed to start around the time she was interrogating the bombing suspect. She knew Castle had been in the building because of the coffee he left her, but didn't put the pieces together until just now.

"You mean about remembering the day I was shot….. What you said to me?" Kate braved that any further attempt to hide her knowing would only damage what little they had left. She could feel his nodding in the form of a slight movement originating from his shoulder.

"You're right….. I should have told you right after I came back to work that I remembered, but I was so unsure of everything back then…. I wasn't sure I could even hold a gun again…. It was an overwhelming time for me and when you didn't ask me about it, I took the coward's way out and didn't say anything." She sniffled again, bringing her hand up to catch the annoying stream coming from her nares. On the way up, her fingers intercepted a piece of cloth that had a hand attached to it. It was Castle giving her his hanky from the back pocket of his jeans. He remained silent to see what else she would offer up as an excuse.

"I lied to a lot of people back then Rick….. But most of all to myself." Kate's admission was low and painful to hear. "I told myself that the only way to get through the shooting was to put the walls back up so I wouldn't think about the possibility of it happening again. I closed myself off to everyone, you, Josh, Lani, Ryan, Espo, even my dad and we were living in the same cabin for three months." She thought a moment and felt this next bit would give Castle some feeling of satisfaction. "I didn't even break things off with Josh, I had my dad do it… Once I left the hospital, I didn't want to see anyone." As expected she could sense Rick's eyes grow at that one.

"But what I did realize is that you changed things for me Rick…. You taught me that I could love another person and not be hurt by it…. You taught me that I could be close with my partners and this closeness would not threaten my heart… That is something I hadn't let myself believe since the day we came home and found out that someone had brutally stabbed my mother to death." The detective's words reflected the many years of hurt and insecurities that this tragic event caused in her young life.

"I fell in love with you Rick…. Head of heels, madly in love with you and I couldn't begin to figure out how to act upon it…."she heard the silence in the room and assessed it to be Rick's disapproval of this topic.

"I had been so messed up for so long, the only way we could communicate was through the work and as long as we had that, I accepted it as the most I could ever have with you. When I was shot and you told me your feelings…. I was both relieved and shocked at the same time. I think had we had an opportunity to talk about this without the gun fire and blood, I probably wouldn't have reacted the way I did." The silence from Castle was making Beckett even more uneasy.

"I tried a few times to tell you Rick….. I even broke up with Demming and was going to tell you that I reconsidered your invitation to the Hamptons. That is until Gina walked up and announced she was going." Richard could feel Kate throw her hands up in front of her and back to her lap. "Bad timing…. For me it has always been bad timing…"

"Why didn't you tell me when I got back at the end of summer?" Rick ventured a question still a bit shocked and skeptical about these new revelations.

"Because, you were still with Gina…. I figured the two of you would get back together and remarry if it worked out. I can't say that I was all that unhappy when it didn't work out though." She kept her voice low not wanting him to think she was rooting for his relationship to fail.

"You were with Josh…. "Castle returned quickly pointing out that the young detective didn't wait herself.

"Was I really?" Kate said with a hint of introspection in her voice.

" He was always out of town or conveniently on shift at the hospital How do you really be with someone who is never there for you…" Casatle rememberd Becketts confession in decon about wanting someone in her life that could be there for her and she for him. Clearly Josh was not that person even back then judging from her words to him. "Josh was always remarking how you and I spent more time together than he and I did. He was quite jealous of our partnership. It was the focus of more than a few uncomfortable discussions between us." Kate's crying seemed to stop by now and she handed the linen hanky back to him.

Castle thought how he too had similar battles with Gina regarding the amount of time he spent at the precinct with Beckett rather than writing or being with the very sexy blond that was his ex wife. "Me too. Gina was always nagging at me to give this past time up. That I had enough material for 20 books already." Richard wasn't sure if letting her know this was right or wrong.

"Gina used to get so upset when she and I would be together in the loft or out on the town and the phone would ring. The way my face would light up seeing yours on the screen was a telling point I think." This was a little too intimate of a confession for Castle's taste but he was letting his heart speak now, not his head. He wondered by the end of this conversation if he would regret it.

"You know, I wasn't lying about needing to work on some things before I could have that happy life I so wanted." Kate started and Richard's heart began to drop.

"After my shooting and the PTSD counseling sessions that were mandatory to return to duty, I kept seeing the therapist not just to work on my getting my courage back, but to see how I could work through my fears regarding opening up to you. I feel I've made much progress and with the circumstances of the last several cases, the bank bombing, the near drowning, even being handcuffed…" she held up their adjoined wrists for emphasis, "and nearly being eaten by a tiger, I was actually trying hard to find a way to talk to you about it." Kate hesitated a few seconds and continued. "About us trying to have a life together.. …" He could sense the awkwardness in her words as she forged on. "I mean as lovers, not just partners.."

This revelation made Castle's heart leap out of his chest. He was so taken aback by this confession he didn't know how to respond. Kate took this as a sign she had waited too long and that this man who had so changed her life forever, had no feelings left for her because of her deception. Almost to the point of panic, Catherine pushed the writer to answer her unspoken question. 'Was it too late for them to try and be more than just partners on the job?'

"Rick… this silence is a bit unnerving…. I have told you how I feel…. I want to know your thoughts. Please tell me…..Am I too late?" The shakiness of her voice was accentuated by the quivering motions that were coming from the handcuffs. The silence went on for more than a minute and then the answer came low, quiet, and a bit husky.

"No…. there is still a chance for us." He could hear the breath she had been holding come out in the form of a large sigh. Rick brought his hand up to take her face and lead it to his. He kissed her gently, their touch growing more and more passionate as time went by. His lips ran lightly over hers, first taking her top lip to his, then her bottom. His hand drew her face and body closer the best it could doing the work of two, the handcuffs and all. He reached down and scooped Catherine's slight body into his arms and placed her atop his thighs, bringing her lips into an all new vantage point and position. The kisses and caresses were growing more and more passionate by the minute.

The hard claps of thunder all but lost to the two as they explored the possibility that both had wanted so desperately over the last few years. When they did separate, it was only to put their heads together to stabilize the dizzying feeling their passion was causing. With another clap of thunder, the lights flickered back on and the loft was illuminated. They both shared a knowing smile seeing the joy in each other's face for the first time.

Kate put her hand on the floor to push herself closer to steal another kiss. When she did so, her hand landed upon the small metallic object they had been searching for. She brought the key up and held it before them. They both began to chuckle.

"I guess you want these off," the young detective started to look at the key, which way it was pointing.

"That's okay, leave them on." Rick took and tossed the key across the room toward the door. "I have had fantasies about being handcuffed to you again. No time like the present to see if they are as good as I imagined them to be." He pulled her into another kiss, as his hand came up and searched the couch for the environmental remote control. He found it lying between the cushions and pressed the button to turn off all the lights in the room again. He felt Kate's surprise at that.

"Well no used wasting electricity on a night like this. It would seem you already know where all the important parts are." To this he felt her giggling against his chest.

"That I do…." Kate replied and took his mouth to hers briefly. "That I do".

"Now it's my chance to become familiar with things." Rick returned. The young detective imagined the huge cheshire grin he was giving her at this moment.

"Go for it." She whispered huskily before she felt his lips upon hers again.


End file.
